Rigid airship



Sept. 20, 1927.

o. GEISLER Rmm AIRSHIP Filed July 25. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 0 65/51;

ATTORNEYS waste of ballast.

4o tially I Patented Se t 1927.

, UNITEDSTA-TES PATENT OFFICE.

OTTO GEISIIER, OI! CHICAGO; ILLINOIS.

RIGID AIRSHIP.

Application filed July 26,

',My invention relates to improvements in airshipsof the rigid type and it consists in A furtherobjec't ofmy invention'is to provide meansfor scooping up water while the ship is stillin motion, thereby causing it to settle down and serving to maintain it or 20 moor it in a lake, in a stream, etc.. 1

A furtherobject is to provide an airship which is an improvement over that set forth in my prior Patent No. 1,550,797, this improvement being particularly directed toward the wings'so as to present amore compact structure without at all decreasing the efliciency of the device.

A further object is to provide a new form of water keel in which the means for scooping up water are carried.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the follow'in specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the a pended claims.

M invention is i lustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, in which I Figure 1 is a side view of the airshi Figure 2 is an'enlarged section su stanalong the line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a detail view showing the means by which the water scoops are actu ated, and

Figure 4 is a detail view of one of the water scoops, showing the connecting cables.

provide 7 In carryin out my invention I concentric cy indrical members, wh1ch are preferably made of duralumin. As will be seen from Figure 1 there is a pair of inner cylinders 1 and 2. These cylinders are spaced apart and are held in spaced relation by means of struts 3, which radiate from a common center 4;. Two outer cylinders 5 and 6 are also provided, and these are spaced from the cylinder 2'by the diagonal braces 1926. Serial NO. 125,048.

7, which are secured at their ends by fish plates 8 to the cylinders.

On each side of the body portion which is formed by the concentric cylinders are wings such as that shown in 'Figure 2. These wings are convex on their tops, as hown at I '9, and are concave on their bottoms, as shown at 10. They are preferably made of'metal l ke the cylinders, which form the body portlonand are held in position by means 0 struts 11, secured to the body portion. In the interior of each wing is a series of tubes 12, these tubes bein for the purpose of forming an additiona reinforcement for the wings and providing a means for curving the outer portions of the wings into graceful, stream-like form. As wil be seen from Figure 1, these tubes12 are not continuous, but are composed of .a series of sections spaced apart. 7, This reduces the weight of t e ship, ut provides suflicient strength.

The ower portion of the outer cylinders 5 and 6 is flattened as will be seen at 5' and 6'.

' All of the available space between the concentric cylinders and in the interior of the wings, as well as the interior of the tubes 12,

"is filled witha light gas, such as hydrogen or helium.

' Attached to the body portion, which has thus been described, 1s a frame-work 13, upon which is carried the motors M and the quarters Q for the crew, the ammunition store-houses, etc. The bottom of this frame forms a water keel 14. The propellers P are I carried on supports 15.

The water keel 14 has pivotally connected thereto a mooring hook 16, wh1ch may be let down when desired, so as to moor the shilp. 11 Figure 3 I have shown a series of water scoops 17, which are pivotally mounted at 18 to the bottom ofthe water keel. Each of these scoops consists of a frame-work 19 of metal, Which is covered by a sheet metal coverin The rame-work which runs underneath the airship is provided with a series of electrically operated winches 20. 'Each ofthese winches is controlled by an electric motor indicated at Mo and each has a worm connection, so that the speed is reduced, while the power is increased. Extending from the winches 20 are cables 21, there being referably three for each scoop, as shown in lgure These tab e as will be seen, are attached to the front ends of the scoop, so as to swing the latter upwardly. As W111 be seen from Fi re 1 I, have provided .vertically disposed rudders 22 for horizontal movement, and horizontal rudders 23 for effecting a vertical movement. In addition to this the front and the rear ends of the win s 9 are bevelled, as shown. at 24, for assistlng in elevating or lowering the ship.

From the foregoin description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily. understood. Let us as sume that the ship is cruising in the air. Propellers 22 may be operated so as to guide the ship in a horizontal direction. As long as the ship is proceedin in a horizontal direction, the effect on the upper and lower surfaces of the front of the-wings 9 is neutralized, thatis to say, there is no tendency to go up or go down. When, however, the

horizontal rudders 23 are manipulated; for

instance, to swing the rear end of the ship up, that will incline the forward surface, 24

still more and tend to swing the forward end pf the ship down. When the ship has almost reached the water, the scoops, the forward endsof which have been let down, will catch the water and scoop it up. This will tend to exert a drag on the ship, which will tend to pull the rear end down. As the rear end comes down, the scoops nearer the rear end will then fill until all of the scoops have filled, when the ship will settle on the water and will stay moored. It is, of course, understood that as the scoops are filled with water they. are raised by means of the winches to a horizontal position; Thus, without letting out any gas, the ship may be brought down and may be held in moored position. When, now, it is'desired to ascend, all that is necessary is to actuate the winches so that the forward end of the scoops are drawn still further upwardly, when the water will pour off of the rear end, and thus the scoops will be emptied. This obviates the necessity of throwing out any other ballast, so that neither gas nor ballastis wasted in the mooring or the launching of the ship.

I claim:

1. The combination with an airship of the lighter than air t pe, having a ke l, of a water scoop hinge to the keel at one end, a power devicecarried by the keel, and flexlble connection from said power device to the front end of said water scoop for raising the latter to a position to retain the water.

2. The combination with an airshlp of the lighter than air type, having a keel, of a a water keel carried by said body portion, a

plurality of water scooping units carried by the keel, means for independently operating each 'of'said water scooping units and for discharging said units at will.

4. A rigid airship of the lighter than air type, comprising an elongated body portion, a keel carried by the ship, a plurality of water scoops hinged at their rear ends to the keel, means for lowering the front ends of the scoops to scoop up water and for raising the scoops to a horizontal position to retain the water, said raising and lowering means being further operable to raise the front. ends of the scoops to a higher position, whereby the water is discharged over the rear of the scoops. I v

5. The combination with an airship of the lighter than air type having a keel, of a plurality of water scoops pivotally connected at their rear ends to the keel, and means for lowering the front ends of the scoops to scoop up water and for raising the scoops to a horizontal position to retain the water.

6. The combination with an airship of the lighter than air type having a keel, of a plurality of water scoops pivotally connected at their rear ends to the keel, and individual means for lowering the front ends of each of the scoops to scoop water up and for raising the scoops to a horizontal position to retain the water.

OTTO GEISLER. 

